Inside the Middle East

Making Sense of the Most Dangerous and Complicated Region on Earth

By: Avi Melamed

Narrated by: Vikas Adam

Acclaimed Israeli intelligence analyst Avi Melamed has spent more than 30 years interpreting Middle East affairs. His long-awaited Inside the Middle East challenges widely accepted perceptions and provides a gripping and uniquely enlightening guide to make sense of the events unfolding in the region.

Melamed considers all the major power players in the Middle East, explains the underlying issues, and creates a three-dimensional picture, an illustration that connects the dots and provides a fascinating road map. He elucidates developments such as the Arab Spring, the downfall of the Muslim Brotherhood, the rise of ISIS, the epic Sunni-Shiite animosity, the essence of the war in Syria, the role of the Caliphate and Jihad, and the looming nuclear arms race. He also provides a rare opportunity to journey into the psyche of Arab society.

This unparalleled volume is a milestone in our understanding of the Middle East. It is the untold story of the struggles that will shape the region, and the world, for decades to come, and a groundbreaking guide that will shake you to the core, force you to reevaluate your outlook, and give you tips to navigate the future.

©2016 Avi Melamed (P)2016 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Avi Melamed's inside knowledge of the Middle East makes him a vital resource for anyone striving to find accurate context for today's news from one of the world's most intractable battle zones." (Linda Solomon Wood, Editor-In-Chief at the National Observer)

informative Israeli view.

A one sided, yet informative Israeli view provides a good analysis of the region but blinded with respect to Israel and particularly the Palestinian Authority.

Great Book

Loved the book, mostly. I believe the information could have been presented in a shorter listen.

That said, the information was very good. The analysis of all the political players was extensive yet in reality, it is Islams death wish for Judaism and Christianity, that forms a basis of it all.

Looking back a lot of what the writer had hoped for in 2015 didn’t come to pass, and in the end we had Oct 7th, complements of the Obama administration and the EU believing money would be put to peaceful use by Iran. The analysis of Hezbollah papers found in the Gaza tunnels will be a great benefit to the re editing of this book or others down the road.

Listen with a grain of salt

I ventured into this book expecting it to be biased and I wasn't disappointed; it turned out to be exactly that. To be fair, the author attempts to be objective and sometimes even succeeds at it. Despite the author's blinkered narrative, the book is very informative about the different actors involved in the Middle-East conflict. The most significant point in the book, for me, was learning about Aliaa Magda Elmahdy's bold activism against misogyny. On the whole, this is an edifying book that's worth a read to get a new perspective on the complex subject of Israel-Palestine and Arab world.

A book from an insider

I recomend this book. Well thought. Written with a pragmatic view of what is the middle east nowadays. Mind that it was written before Oct 7th.

Middle East

Extremely interesting. First account of the issues preventing peace that was substantive and insightful. Ought to be required reading for Congress and any President although I realize Trump doesn't read.

A profound and multifaceted overview

This is a very thorough and insightful factual overview, about the region under the hood of the media, the influential forces among the countries and notable groups.

very one sided view of the conflict

lots of great points but the author views are quite jaded towards one side.

Biased text

Biased driven. Selective narrations. Far from accurately prescribing Middle East issues. Not recommended for a facts based readers.

Extremely disappointing

I was hoping to find an objective analysis of the middle east. Instead, I struggled to listen through the author's one-sided and heavily biased view on the Arab and Iranian world. The author claimed to be objective, but completely failed at this attempt. The book contains a few interesting insights and perspectives on the region, but generally only just criticizes every state in the region. The author deliberately does not cover his home country and especially does not look at it in any critical view (with the exception of two sentences in the last chapter). Also, the reader tried to overly dramatize the content to support the author's subjective view. Very disappointing and not recommended for anyone to read.

Inflammatory and racist

Pure. Racist. Trash.

In the foreword, the author describes himself as 'deeply humble' and claims this book will lead you on a journey of unbiased, thoughtful and carefully considered fact-based analysis of the situation of the Middle East. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Within 30 minutes it was obvious that this man has nothing but contempt for the Arab culture. He makes sweeping generalizations about the Arabs and Arab culture under the guise of 'fact', and backs them up with simple anecdotes or quotes from random sources - sometimes from Facebook!! of all places.

On numerous occasions he factually stated the reasons why various politicians made certain decisions - am I to believe that Muammar Gaddafi confided his private thoughts to the author?

I turned it off in Chapter 3 when he gloatingly contrasted the virtues of the Israeli culture to the shortcomings of the mindset of the Arab people.